


A Visitor in the Night

by Merfilly



Category: L'AMOUR Louis - Works, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-28
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-19 01:46:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2369888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Em Talon's ranch receives a visitor that changes the future for Em herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Visitor in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> The OC and Original Work in question has been in progress for over 2 decades. Shiny new fandom snagged her attention.

Sylvia didn't fear much, not even when she rode the trails through the hills and mountains of this continent's land. She'd existed so long that she had no concept of her own age, and grown powerful in the centuries since her making as a creature of the night. The terrain was hard, but so was she. If there was neither cave nor other shelter, she knew how to sleep in the earth, and sometimes she just needed to be away from others. More than enough bandits crossed her path to keep her thirst slaked, leavened by the occasional prospector gone mad with silver dust or the like.

Still, when she found herself on the edge of a spread populated by mortals, she would do her best to remember her human guise, visiting to see the breed of humans that made these lands their thriving homes. She rode in close to dusk, so as not to spook anyone, having slept near to the land while her horse grazed. The current nag was exceptionally placid to her mistress's nature, raised by allies that knew the beasts needed to be trained away from predator fear.

By true nightfall, she was safely in the house, guided in by ranch hands, and had met a woman that set every instinct in Sylvia quivering.

Em Talon was a woman that appealed to the Amazon's love of survivors.

* * *

Em Talon had lived a good, hard life with all the ups and downs of starting from scratch in the wilds. Her children were grown and moved on with their own lives, her hands were trusted, and she had family to call upon in the event that her health took a turn for the worse.

Her nerves pricked almost the instant she was introduced to the traveler. It was rare enough to see a woman rode the trails alone, but Sylvia wore her gun in that easy practiced manner of a person who knew how to use it, and the scabbard on the rifle looked well worn. 

"Traveling through, rare enough to find a solid house, and someone to talk to that talks back," Sylvia said with an accent that Em just couldn't quite place. "I promise no trouble's riding my tail."

"Then you're welcome to stay for a spell," Em said, even as the hair along her neck was trying to warn her this woman was something more than she appeared. Em was a tall, solid-built woman, not yet losing that to age, though her body ached now and then with the rough life. Still, Sylvia had mass on her, if not height, and carried it with a grace that didn't quite fit the build.

* * *

It took only a couple of days, or more aptly, nights, for Em to know that what her guest was had nothing to do with humanity. It didn't much bother her, other than to set her a bit more on guard, for there were strange ones among the family, or so the rumors went. Sylvia was a polite guest, at least, and near as educated as her late husband or her son, Barnabas, even if she carried herself more like Milo.

So Em hid the knowledge down deep, and was making excuses by the third morning to keep her guest inside, instead of giving in to the wheedling of the hands to visit with her as they worked.

Sylvia overheard it, still up despite the beating pulse in her body craving to sleep as the sun rode high. "Tell your foreman I'll lend a hand later on; that blind box they mentioned at dinner sounds familiar, and I can move by night like a cat. I'll get in and see if that's where the strays wound up," she told Em. Em Talon, used to weighing the words and measuring people, heard the implicit message. Her guest knew that Em had determined her oddity, and was choosing to confirm it, in her own way.

Em just nodded, and wondered what would come of this.

* * *

Sylvia took the opportunity to go after the missing cattle to scout out the land. There weren't brigands up this way that she could easily find, which meant she'd need to ride on toward more populated areas soon. However, the way Em had been taking to her conversation and the lack of fuss over her oddities had Sylvia intrigued. She would come back this way, once she was truly sated and less a danger to the woman.

She found her way to the cattle, just as the men had suspected. After that, it was a matter of waiting for the next night to get them moving back toward the proper pastures. That gave her a good long time to mull over the fact that she was growing fond of the woman who was clever, shrewd, and strong in all the ways that appealed to the first Huntress of the original Amazon nation.

* * *

Em was outside, using a good weather day to finish beating the rugs they'd crafted or traded for over the years when she saw a familiar outline on horseback riding her way. The dying light of the day was enough for her to confirm what the shape told her. There hadn't been much surprise that Sylvia had left after giving over the thirteen head of cattle she'd found for them. Strange creatures never lingered long, from all the stories Em had ever heard.

That she'd returned, however, both made Em pleased for good company and uneasy that this inhuman woman was drawn here.

"May I stay on a night or three, ma'am?" Sylvia called from the horse's back. If, in the weeks she'd been away, Em had reconsidered the hospitality, Sylvia would ride on. 

"You know where the corral is for your nag," Em called, curious what this visit would bring. She'd never been touched by the Sight, but it ran in Sackett blood. Right now, Em felt the world teetering on possibilities.

"Thank you." Sylvia turned off to go see to her horse, pleased and making up her mind. She'd rarely taken on companions of her own, and never by force. It would be a matter of care, to broach the conversation she wanted to have with this woman, but Sylvia was certain the Mother had guided her this way for a reason.

* * *

The night grew long after the meal, and Sylvia could see her hostess was tiring. She had not found the right way to speak of her nature yet, but she noted Em's eyes had stayed on her through most of the conversation they'd shared.

"You came back with a purpose, didn't you, Sylvia?" Em finally asked as she set about making certain the house was ready for her to turn in for bed.

"I did," the woman answered forthrightly. "A talk, an offer, no pressure nor expectations other than being heard."

Em nodded sharply at that. "I like the fact you don't hem or haw around troublesome words. It's about you, about why you ride by night and see like a cat in the darkness."

Sylvia gave a soft snort at her. "Aye, and more. But you're tired. If I rise midday, after the men eat and go again, might we talk about it then?"

"I believe we will."

* * *

Sylvia stirred at the coffee in her hands. She was less fond of eating and drinking than some of her allies, but she could, to maintain pretenses. Currently, the coffee mug served to keep her hands busy as she sat opposite Em for the discussion.

"First, I have to ask why you didn't just ask me to move on when you realized I wasn't just a woman on your land?" Sylvia asked.

"Curiosity. I got my fair share of it, despite being practical." Em watched Sylvia's face closely as she asked her own question. "What exactly are you?"

"A night walker, blood drinker, hunter of humanity," Sylvia answered easily enough, nothing betraying sinister intent, despite the words.

"Hmm." Em wasn't sure what to make of that answer, but hadn't she heard a rumor about one of the Sackett women falling in with such a man? There was a standing suggestion through the family to send births, marriages, and deaths down New Orleans way, to be kept by her line. And that was where any of them sent to if trouble got deeper than the local members could handle. Of course, it was just one of those stories that fell in with the ones about wolf-changing men living up alone in the hills and such. Yet Sylvia was not crazy, Em was certain. "Seems like that would lead to a good bit of fear and hunting of your kind."

"Sure does," Sylvia replied. "The sloppy ones get dead, quick. The dangerous ones that stay hidden… well, I might have pointed them out over the years to more dangerous friends." She'd taken care of them herself, once upon a time, but now there were those who did that as their reason for being. "There are laws on my kind. The laws get ignored at risk of destruction for the ones that break them." She twisted the cup a little in her hands, and settled in to describe what it was to be one of the night walkers. Em didn't look disgusted or fearful, merely curious, which helped as Sylvia went on.

Em finally leaned forward, expression intent with every words she spoke. "Why trust me, why tell me, and what is it that makes the future look different because of you?" she asked.

Sylvia could not help the surge in her own blood at that naked honesty. It had been too long since she'd had the companionship of a woman quite this blunt. "I want to invite you to join me, Em Talon. Because I find I enjoy the way you handle yourself in ways that make me feel a little less jaded about existence."

Em considered that. Her age obviously wasn't a detriment to this offer, so she wasn't going to insult her guest by throwing it out as a spurious objection. What she did was turn inward, cataloguing what it would be to take up the kind of life Sylvia had offered. It would mean being near to more people than she'd grown accustomed to, and yet… Sylvia obviously wandered. It couldn't be that onerous. And Sylvia had mentioned that death could and did come for her kind, so it was not as if Em was looking at being trapped forever in such a life. Did she want that? Was she willing to give up her ranch, break ties with her family, and take on the nights?

"Come back in one month, and you'll have your answer."

Sylvia just nodded, and looked to the edge of sunlight around the door. Em gave a sharp smile.

"I didn't mean to let out right away, but you'll not stay the whole while I decide."

The women's eyes met, and they both knew the decision had been mostly made. Sylvia could be polite enough to let it stand that way, as there would be business Em needed to settle first.

* * *

Em felt a curious sense coming over her as they passed the outermost boundaries of the land she had held for so long. Sylvia didn't need to be told; the nag stopped and so did Em's gelding so she could look back.

Logan had come through for her, and the ranch would stay in family hands. That was what mattered now, so far as it was concerned. She then looked at the trail leading out and into her future, a strange one for certain, but one that intrigued her. She was no stranger to starting fresh, even if the years had passed in plenty since she'd come here.

Together, the women turned their mounts, the gelding still skittish at Sylvia's nearness, and began the trek toward civilization. There was nothing more to do at this end of the trail, and plenty at the other.


End file.
